2024 Dirt Store ACU British Motocross Championship Final Round - champions crowned in Preston

By Team TMX on 23rd Sep 24

News Motocross British Motocross Championship

A huge amount of enthusiastic fans headed to Preston Docks for the final round of the 2024 Dirt Store ACU British Motocross Championship where champions would be crowned. In most classes, it was still super tight at the top of the standings with no real indication of which way the title would go.

Red Bull KTM’s Jeffrey Herlings headed to Preston with a 15-point lead in the MX1 championship over Crendon Tru7 Honda’s Conrad Mewse. The two have done battle all year long but regularly finish 90 seconds clear of the chasing pack and so the chances of anyone getting between them – even if Conrad was able to win – was slim and so in some ways, it was a forgone conclusion crazy DNFs aside.

Mewse got the holeshot in race one and attacked from the off, eking out an advantage lap after lap to finally come home 30 seconds ahead with his fastest lap almost four seconds quicker than anything Herlings could manage. It was quite a statement performance from the Brit yet it did little to help skew the championship – Herlings still leading by 12.

Behind them, Josh Gilbert (Gabriel SS24 KTM) had worked his way through the pack to secure third ahead of Tristan Purdon (SC Sporthomes Husqvarna), Bobby Bruce (Bike It Kawasaki), Taylor Hammal (Crendon Tru7 Honda), Apico Honda teammates Martin Barr and Tom Grimshaw and Jason Meara (Moto-Cycle GAGAS) who was the last rider to stay on the lead lap.

Race two was much the same but this time, Herlings wasn’t caught off guard and was only losing a second a lap until lap four when Mewse crashed and lost 11 seconds in the process. He remounted a safe second but with his rhythm broken, Herlings was able to run a similar pace to ensure that the final moto win of 2024 would be his and he’d be crowned British Champion to boot.

Gilbert and Purdon both came from way outside the top 10 to clinch third and fourth – a last-lap pass by the Cornishman putting him in the final podium position in the race, on the day and in the championship – while Bruce finished fifth ahead of Hammal and Todd who was the last rider to stay on the lead lap in seventh.

Dirt Store Kawasaki’s Tommy Searle did everything he could to win his first ever British MX2 title but ultimately Gabriel SS24 KTM’s Cas Valk was just too good. Searle grabbed the holeshot in race one ahead of Dylan Walsh (M Smith Kawasaki) and SC Sporthomes Husky runners Charlie Heyman and the man with more British MX2 titles than anyone in the race – two-time champion Mr Elliott Banks-Browne. Behind the Husqvarna riders were Billy Askew (Bike It Kawasaki), title contender Joel Rizzi (Dirt Store Kawasaki) and Valk who must’ve felt a tad nervous with a sea of green ahead of him and hard-charging Floridian Jack Chambers (Bike It Kawasaki), who also had an outside shot of being crowned champion, right behind him.

But it was Chambers who was the first to crack, crashing downfield on lap two, as Askew, Rizzi and Valk moved up the field to put Walsh under pressure.

Searle seemed like he had it all in control at the front, but Valk and Rizzi were coming and made their way past Walsh. The Dutchman was particularly relentless and made a move into the lead on lap eight, for which Searle had no answer. Rizzi then crashed out of third, gifting the position back to Walsh. While the first three held position until the end, Chambers wasn’t done and moved up to fourth – an impressive ride through the roost – finishing ahead of Askew, Jake Nicholls (Crendon Tru7 Honda) and Rizzi.

For race two, Rizzi lined up to the inside of the fastest qualifier Valk. Were we about to see some turn-one shenanigans? If that were the plan something went awry in the execution as the Welsh Dirt Store Kawasaki rider torpedoed his own teammate in turn one. Fortunately for Tommy, he regained his balance without losing too much ground to come out of it in third place behind Chambers and Valk.

Perhaps having put too much into race one, Chambers started a rearwards slide that’d see him slip back to sixth by the race's end. Valk moved into the lead on lap two and managed the race from there as Searle slipped through into second while Askew finished a solid third ahead of Walsh and Nicholls. Rizzi was a midrace retiree.

The positions on the day were mirrored in the championship with Valk claiming the title ahead of Searle who has just missed out on more British MX2 titles than anyone could feel good about – the first being 18 years ago when Carl Nunn pipped him in a Hawkstone Park showdown back in 2006!

In the youth classes, Reece Jones captured the 250cc title with a maximum scorecard across the weekend while Max Harris and Jack Meara joined him on the podium.

There was heartache for 125 championship leader Jamie Keith whose Yamaha broke a reed while he led moto three causing catastrophic damage to the bottom end. That DNF gifted Josh Vail the title by 13 points in a closely fought battle that would have seen either rider crowned a worthy champion. Sonny Rooney and Radgie Ry Waggott joined Vail on the podium for the weekend after some great racing.

Hayden Statt wrapped up the BW85 title although it was Finley Pickering who took the overall win on the weekend with some excellent sand riding skills shown. The entire top 10 battled hard in this class with Alfie Geddes-Green taking the runner-up spot on the podium while freshly crowned champion Statt secured third.

It was a similar story in the SW85 class as Arthur Moore captured the crown but Harley Marczak took the win on the weekend. Moore secured second overall with Nixon Coppins enjoying the sand to secure third spot.

Cohen Jagielski wasn’t letting anyone steal his thunder in the 65 class and even after wrapping up the title on day one, came out and dominated the final race, eventually taking the win by 52 seconds and running lap times that were six seconds quicker than the next fastest guy. The champ was flanked by Finlee Pope and Elliott Shawyer on the podium.

Dirt Store ACU British Motocross Championship Results

Round Six, Preston Docks

MX1

Final Series Standings

1 Herlings 266, 2 Mewse 251, 3 Gibert 185, 4 Purdon 171, 5 Todd 168, 6 Meara 151, 7 Barr 148, 8 Grimshaw 122, 9 Sam Nunn 105, 10 Dan Thornhill 104

MX2

Final Series Standings

1 Valk 236, 2 Searle 229, 3 Chambers 206, 4 Rizzi 193, 5 Walsh 183, 6 Nicholls 142, 7 Jones 109, 8 Askew 97, 9 Joe Brookes 97, 10 Taylor Hammal 94

250cc Youth

Final Series Standings

1 Jones 483, 2 Harrison Greenough 373, 3 Fisher 347, 4 Meara 342, 5 George Corke 279, 6 Max Corke 266, 7 Lee Cameron 156, 8 Harris 144, 9 Jack Wilson 127, 10 Shane Jones 85

125cc Youth

Final Series Standings

1 Vail 442, 2 Keith 429, 3 Haddock 265, 4 Charlie Richmond 252, 5 Laughton 228, 6 Jake Walker 198, 7 Hucklebridge 186, 8 Stock 152, 9 Lewis Spratt 148, 10 Lucas Lee 105

BW85

Final Series Standings

1 Statt 722, 2 Geddes-Green 690, 3 Pickering 678, 4 Ward-Clarke 608. 5 Winstanley-Dawson 579, 6 Severn 547, 7 Bribley 507, 8 Kole Nally 447, 9 O’Callaghan 438, 10 John McCann 413

SW85

Final Series Standings

1 Moore 641, 2 Marczak 625, 3 Coppins 604, 4 Wilson 584, 5 Gawley 508, 6 Lewis 457, 7 Merriman 432, 8 Butterworth 426, 9 Connor Thompson 391, 10 King 387

65

Final Series Standings

1 Jagielski 630, 2 Shawyer 548, 3 Pope 510, 4 Wilcock 493, 5 Cotter 484, 6 Jack Stanford 474, 7 Noll 404, 8 Clark 336, 9 Liam Hannah 331, 10 Jett Gardiner 317

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